Has PC changed your decision making?

If so...how?

I'd like to have another boat. In order to have what I want...it'll require me to do some things (financially) that I would otherwise be inclined to *not* do....were it not for the fact that cancer is on the scene. In other words... the odds of cancer killing me has gone up demonstrably (it's less abstract...as well as more statistically probable)...and with those odds....a feeling of "if you're gonna do it...no time like the present". (I also just turned 60)

To be honest...were it not for this cancer....I would not be thinking of doing what I'm thinking of doing. (It's just not what got me to where I am financially). It's a bad play financially. But it's a play that may make sense with the odds of my reaching 85 years old having decreased.

I don't know what to do. But...for some reason...it feels as if the clock is ticking. And that's making me wanna do things I would not have dreamed of doing were it not for the fact that I've got this PC. And the odds that it brings with it.

Anyone else have this feeling? Anyone else change how they do things...due to this disease? Or...am I the only one who's taking this into account?

Tall Allen said...
IT-

Don't rob that bank!

LOLOL it's not *that* drastic Allen. But....I can't tell if you're being funny....or....if you're saying "don't change a thing on the account of PC". lol

Post Edited (island time) : 8/28/2018 9:21:31 PM (GMT-6)

I hear you but it's more of an aging thing for me. i'm past the point where I think PC will kill me but I know something will and it could be at any time.

my only brother died unexpectedly of a heart attack this year, for example.

I travel more and do my photography usually by myself with my wife's blessing, about two months a year. next month i'll go to the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone for rut and fall colors, it'll be my sixth consecutive year.

also while i'm home I also travel locally quite a bit. for example in the past couple of months I've driven to Mt Tamalpias for fog season maybe 15 times, and it's four hours round trip.

Post PC I have to say I'm a bit more free with saying "no" to things I don't like to do. I've been saying yes to more things I like and am freer with spending money on those things. Recently my wife and I did the European River cruise - it was great, expensive, but before PC I wouldn't have taken the time or money.

I also spend more time in my creative activities - writing and wood working.

Andrew

IT, I’m with you. For one thing, I never thought about retiring before I got sick. I planned on working “forever”. Then post diagnosis and treatment, I started thinking about it a lot. Suddenly “forever” got a lot shorter. Now, I’m a year away, maybe less. No way am I working a day past 2019.

Second, sort of like your boat, I bought a second home in Florida. And I literally made the decision, went down to look , and went to contract, in a 4 day period. I never made a big decision like that so fast, in my life.
I care less about money. I’ve got 2 cruises booked in the next 11 months. And I generally spend money with a lot less thought than I did before cancer.
Almost like I’m racing to get things done. Even though in my heart I know I’ve probably got plenty of time, unless something else gets me first.

Cancer, whether one has a serious, advanced case or a “got it early and I’m fine” case, makes us realize how mortal we really are, how fragile life can be.

Another boat? You mean one boat's not draining enough of your retirement savings already?

IT, I hear you...

I also offer this definition of a boat: A hole in the water that you attempt to fill with money.

On the other hand--go for it. Just be somewhat rational.

IT, buy the boat. You deserve it. You’ve earned it.

island time said...

Anyone else change how they do things...due to this disease?

(1) A factor (among many) affecting choice of retirement location

(2) More emphasis on self-testing.

As of last month, we are both in retirement (yeah!). But have been taking short trips over last 18 mths to scope out places we might like to relocate to. Some of them were not exactly in the middle of first class medical facilities, so to speak. Have read enough here about radiation gone wrong and difficulty of guys' handling some tertiary treatments to give us some pause. Would not want to be in recurrence without good medical help.

At same time, we have been watching what we think is another housing market bubble develop. So have put relocation on back burner for a while.

This cancer stuff has me in major cognitive dissonance.

On one hand, I saw my father-in-law die from prostate cancer, uncle die of it (with bad radiation SEs), brother-in-law just finish his radiation treatments, primary physician's father died of it, and my father died of cancer (lung and intestine, though) after surgery/radiation/chemo. I see my post-RALP uPSA reappearing, maybe stable though, and I read about other 3+4=7 guys here that eventually didn't fare well.

On the other hand, I can run the nomograms and see pretty optimistic forecasts. My primary tells me not to worry. My uro only uses standard PSA ( down to .100)?" He's out of City of Hope program in last decade, so you'd think he's well trained, When I told him last Dec. about the uPSA readings I was getting on my own LabCorp tests (between .020 - .030), he asked, "To what end? -- What are you going to do differently than you would when your PSA becomes apparent on the standard PSA (.100)?" Probably nothing, til it gets above .100, so he's got a point. But, like in the "Dirty Harry" movie---"I gots to know..."...

Robert

I'm planning on spending part of my retirement fund on a new table saw.

and a new workshop to put it in, which means I need to buy a new house with a bit of land so there's room for the new shop to put the table saw in.

so I'm not really looking for much - just a new table saw.

Andrew

if it was me, I'd be building a second boat.

anyone can buy a boat.

Personally, I have scaled back. My retirement income won't be great, so I need to leave as much as I can to my wife.

Although, a friend has an old 12' john boat, that I was thinking about offering him some $$ for. But hey, that's only a few hundred.

mattamx said...

Heightened concerns for my girlfriend’s long term wellbeing.

Yeah, that is a key point. In a relationship, you have to consider how long the SO has, too.

Just had to update my profile to age 69 -- ouch, they come around so fast...

But wife is only 63. So, even though it probably won't be PCa that gets me, something will. And I need to consider that, statistically, she may outlive me by ten years or more. So things that I (we) would like to spend on now need to be considered in light of possible longevity and retirement needs. Not a simple calculation.

Robert